I Live in Reality
by oovoo javer
Summary: Between making decisions on her future, navigating carefully around her nosy friends and parents, and trying not to make a fool out of herself in front of the only boy she's ever liked, growing up is hard. Add being a superhero to that list and she's drowning in what is known as adolescence. Luckily, that boy is paying far more attention than he's given credit for. (Spiderman AU).
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Just cross posted this on AO3! This is an AU where Sakura's Spiderman. This doesn't follow a specific Spiderman Universe, and the Naruto characters are themselves, they're not fulfilling a role. Sasuke isn't Gwen Stacy or MJ, he's himself.

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 _I Live in Reality_

 _Chapter 1_

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"When did you get those bruises?" Ino asks, appearing from seemingly thin air.

Sakura, who had been so engrossed in opening her locker, jolts and then leans her forehead against the locker when she realizes that she didn't remember what number of the combination she had just been on. "Ugh, Ino you know I don't like it when you do that." She whines.

"Do what?" Ino replies innocently. "Careful you don't also wanna get a bruise on your already distracting forehead."

"Gee, thanks for the concern, pig." Sakura snorts as she manages to successfully open her locker after a second try. "How'd you think you did on that calculus test yesterday?" She doesn't answer the girl's first question and hopes that the change in subject isn't as awkward as she thinks it is.

She hears the blonde girl give a resigned sigh and doesn't push her original question. "Don't remind me. My mom's probably going to freak when she sees the score."

Sakura entertains a brief image of her best friend's mother in a rage and suppresses a shiver at the thought. She's only seen the woman angry once, but that one time alone was enough to cause fear for a lifetime. The pink haired teenager shot the other a look over her shoulder. "That bad, huh?"

"Worse than what you're probably imagining."

"Yikes." She says.

"What about you?"

"Eh." Sakura shrugs, and grabs the necessary items for her class, before shutting the locker with a slam. "I think I did okay."

"Only okay?" Ino teases. "What happened to you, Miss Brainiac?"

They begin to walk down the hall, and Sakura hopes that Ino doesn't see her wince. "I've been busy."

"With what, a secret fight club?"

She hopes her attempts to appear nonchalant come off as natural, because her laughter sounds nothing if not forced. "What are you talking about?"

The blonde stops in the middle of the hall, and she ignores the cursing of the students walking behind her who are now attempting to walk around the duo. The look on her face is no longer humorous and turns solemn.

Sakura tucks a pale strand of hair behind her ear self-consciously, and she wonders if this is when her secret meets its end. Months of careful planning and coverup going down the drain just because she was too stupid to remember to do her laundry and be left with only a pair of shorts.

Her downward thinking spiral finally meets its end when the other girl speaks up. "Is Ami giving you trouble again?"

A sigh of relief threatens to slip out from her, but she keeps her mouth sealed shut at the serious look on Ino's face. As if Ami could cause these bruises, she thought wirily. The girl could barely throw a punch. Instead she laughed it off, though this time much more genuinely. "Nah, trust me it wasn't Ami."

"Was it someone else?"

"No, mom, no one is bullying me."

Ino pouts at the admission.

Sakura quickly thinks up of a reasonable lie to give to her best friend. She knows the other girl only asks out of concern, she'd be doing the same thing too, but she can't exactly let people know what she does in her spare time. "You know how my downstairs neighbor has four year old twins, right? She paid me to babysit them and they got a little rowdy before bedtime." It's not the most believable thing, but neither is it too outlandish. She just hopes Ino agree more with the latter.

"Oh ew." Ino responds, and they walk in silence for a moment before suddenly the girl pauses again right in front of their classroom. She side eyes Sakura, who pretends not to notice. "Then what about that one," she points to a rather large, ugly bruise on her outer right thigh. "Seems pretty big for a toddler."

"Oh, they, uh, kicked me in the same place. Hurt real, real bad. I had to go buy some icy hot from the corner store."

Ino seems to believe the lie, because she grimaces and nods, and the topic is forgotten.

When they both walk into class, the first thing she notices is that none of the students are sitting in their desks. Instead they're all standing around, mostly chatting with one another, backpacks still slung across their shoulders. She glances around for someone, but says nothing when she notices his absence. Ignoring the knowing look on her best friend's face she pays attention to the still standing classmates. She isn't given much time to question why, because her teacher clears his throat from his desk at the front corner of the classroom.

Her teacher was a young, handsome man, even with his gray hair. At least that's what she assumed, given that the lower portion was always covered in a surgical mask. Rumors were always circulating in the halls for a reason why he covered his face, but she never paid much attention to them because he was a good teacher and seemed passionate about both the class and his students.

He insisted that all his students refer to him by his first name, as he explained that they were all going to become adults in a year or two, and wanted to establish a bond with his students out of mutual respect.

The bell rings, signaling the beginning of the class period, and Kakashi finally begins to talk once he has the full attention of the teenagers. "Today, we're going to switch seats."

Half of the class groans, while a selective few let out not-so-subtle hisses of relief. She wants to do the same, but doesn't want to be rude so she just shares a grin with Ino.

Ino elbows her in the rib, and she gasps as her elbows hits a rather sore spot, but quickly covers it up with a cough before the other girl can start interrogating her again. Ino is none the wiser, and says to Sakura amongst the loud chattering that has sprouted up in the room again. "I hope we sit next to each other!"

Sakura smiles in agreement, and doesn't get the chance to respond because Kakashi begins to walk around the classroom, reading names to a designated desk.

"Ino Yamanaka." Kakashi states, and Sakura gives the girl a frown that is reciprocated, when her own name isn't called immediately after.

Now standing alone, she hopes that the people she's going to sit next to are nice and cool enough. Not that the person she used to sit next to was mean, but Kiba consistently showed up to class high and she had just begun to reach her breaking point after hearing him ask her what was happening in the lesson every five minutes. Now he was seated directly in front of Kakashi's desk, probably so that he could keep an eye on him.

She's doesn't contemplate much else, even that she's the only one left standing, because her name is called in the direction of a seat in the very last row and column of the class.

She's relieved to see that she sits behind a quiet boy named Shino, and then realizes that the seat directly to her right is empty. Scanning the room, her suspicions are confirmed when she sees Ino has turned her head from a couple rows ahead to give Sakura an amused smirk.

Sakura would deny it later, but she's so surprised at her realization that she chokes on her spit. Hacking, she hits her own chest lightly for a few seconds, until her dry coughs become more miniscule.

Looking up, she notices that the entire class is looking at her, and her cheeks burn in embarrassment. Weakly, she supplies, "I swallowed a mosquito."

Ino chortles quietly, but the rest of the class awkwardly shifts their gaze back up to the teacher.

Kakashi claps his hands together. "Well, now that we're settled in our new seats, let's get started."

She takes out her materials from her backpack and tunes out his lesson, and just as her embarrassment is beginning to subside, the door of the classroom opens.

In walks Sasuke Uchiha, and the red that had begun to leave her face, blooms tenfold. She can smell his cologne, and discreetly inhales deeply through her nose.

No one besides Ino notices her reaction, because everyone else is paying attention to Sasuke even though she's directly in front of him. Kakashi stops his lesson on the board. "Hello Sasuke, how nice of you to join us."

"Yeah, sorry." Sasuke replies monotonously. He starts to walk towards his usual seat, when he realizes that the class is scrambled around.

"As you can see we've changed seats." Kakashi's eyes crinkled, and she wonders if that was his way of smiling.

"I noticed."

"You sit right next to Sakura, the empty seat right next to where you came in." Sasuke doesn't say anything, and she's a little giddy that he knows her name enough to know where to sit, even though it's actually probably because it was the only seat left vacant.

He doesn't spare her a glance, and immediately throws his arms on his desk and buries his head into them once seated.

She in turn, studies the dark, inky spikes of his hair, and the way his leather jacket strains against his broad shoulders for a few moments before she quickly shifts her gaze down onto her hands in her lap, before anyone can catch her staring at him.

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"Wow, aren't you lucky you didn't get put next to me?" Ino says as soon as class is over and they're headed towards the cafeteria. Her eyebrows wiggle, she walks backwards to face Sakura.

"Keep your voice down!" Sakura hisses, but there's a hint of a smile playing on her lips.

"Oh please," the blonde flips her long hair over her shoulder, "you're acting like half of our grade isn't crushing on him, too."

"I'm not 'crushing.'" Sakura emphasizes. "I just think he's…. cool."

"Yeah, okay. Next you're gonna tell me Hinata isn't crushing on Naruto either." She remarks, as they find their usual table once they walk through the entry way.

"I resent that," said girl replies softly sliding to sit next to where Sakura stood, opposite of Ino.

"Sorry," Ino says, even though she doesn't sound sorry at all. "I'm just trying to prove a point."

"Huh? About what?"

"She's denying her crush on Sasuke."

She can't handle looking the look of pity Hinata gives her so she sighs and looks at the lunch line. "Whatever, you two aren't going to believe me no matter what I say, so I'm just gonna go get myself something to eat."

"Oh wait! Can you get me two sugar cookies? I'll give you the quarters when you get back." Ino asks, previous topic forgotten.

Sakura waves her off. "Nah it's cool. I'll be right back."

She's only in line for about a minute because she receives an notification from her phone inside the pocket of her hoodie. Assuming it's a text from her mom, she groans when she sees that it's a notification from a police scanner that she downloaded, alerting her of a bank robbery only a few blocks away from the school.

"Shit." Sakura mutters under her breath. She slips a smile at the person behind her in line, before making a beeline towards the door outside of the cafeteria.

She's walking through the empty halls and almost out the front doors of the school when someone steps in front of the entrance, effectively separating her from an easy escape.

He's one of the P.E. teachers, and he's easily recognizable with his shiny black hair, styled into a bowlcut, and green tracksuit, even if she's personally never had him as a teacher. He wastes no time in questioning her. "Where are you going, young lady?"

Sakura thinks for a moment of what to say, when the thought occurs to her. She doubles over suddenly, and grips her stomach tightly. She didn't like lying, especially when it was becoming a daily occurrence, but the longer she stood there the more likely the robbers were to get away. "I have cramps, so I was going to go home." She lets out a small moan, for good measure.

"Cramps? Surely you can walk them o-"

"Did I mention they were period cramps? Awful, bloody, gushing-"

His demeanor changes immediately. "Have a nice day, I hope you feel better." He ushers her out the door.

She limps out the door, making sure to keep the self satisfied smirk off her face, and is still holding her stomach until she's sure she's out of view from the glass doors.

The teenager finally breaks out into a run after a few feet, and finds an empty alleyway to change in. Behind a dumpster, hidden from street view, she sets her backpack on the ground and unzips it swiftly.

Bright crimson and deep blue greet her when she pulls out the suit from deep within the reaches of the bag. She glances around again making sure she's alone, before sliding off her shorts and pulling off her hoodie and shirt from on top her head.

She pulls the suit on in a matter of seconds, a feat only achieved after months of practice, and slides the red mask over her face only after pulling her short pink hair into a low ponytail. She stuffs her clothes and sneakers into the backpack, and makes quick work of hiding it behind the dumpster.

She doesn't spare another glance, before shooting a line of web at the nearest building in the direction of the robbery.

Sure, she'll probably get yelled at by her mom and Ino when she gets back home, but she doesn't have to time to worry about that when there are potential lives at risk. She was someone the public depended on, not some clumsy teenager who had two friends.

She is Spiderwoman.

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I know he's barely in this chapter, but I'm trying to introduce the universe. He'll definitely be a big player in this story.

Please review/fave/follow! Thanks :)


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: No action scenes...yet.

I love the concept of her being a role model to small children, especially at a local level.

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 _I Live in Reality_

 _Chapter 2_

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It isn't until the sun's beginning to set that Sakura finally makes her way through downtown Konoha. Her backpack is hanging off of one shoulder, and she's jumping from building to building.

The robbery was fairly easy, as far as apprehending the criminals goes, a quick spiderweb and they were caught against the wall. She'd left after making sure the authorities arrived, watching them appear in a steady stream.

They appreciate her help, but she knew that doing their job for them didn't equate into a simple thanks. She doesn't want to spend days filling out a police report either, so she figures it's easier if she makes herself scarce once the robbers are in custody.

Her stomach grumbles suddenly, and she wonders if she should stop by a convenience store for something to eat, when her train of thought is cut off by the loud vibration emitting from her backpack. Quickly she snatches it out from its pocket, and has to stifle a groan when she sees exactly who is calling.

"Uh, hey." She rolls up the end of her mask so that her voice doesn't come out muffled.

"Don't 'hey' me, what the hell, forehead!" She hears Ino huff on the other end of the connection.  
"You totally ghosted us at lunch! This is the second time in three weeks!"

"I had period cramps." She says bluntly and hopes the girl takes the bait.

"You said that last time, like a week ago."

"Yeah, uh, it's been irregular so I stopped by the doctor." And she's not completely lying. With her high demand schedule and newfound physical fitness, her body's been struggling to adjust to the changes.

"Oh." There's a pause. "Well don't just leave randomly, okay? Let us know. I was worried you got kidnapped or something."

Sakura snorts into the receiver. "Like I'll go down that easy."

"Where are you anyways?"

She sighs. "I was on my way home-"

Unfortunately it's at that moment that she's spotted by civilians down below. It only takes one to shout her name before there's a small crowd at the base of the building, all garnering in hopes of a few moments of her time. She tried to block the noise of the crowd with her hand, but Ino picks up the cheers rather impressively. "Wait, are people yelling Spiderwoman? Holy shit is she near you?"

Sakura makes a noncommittal noise, which could be interpreted as a yes or a no. Ino took it as a yes.

"You have to get a picture of her! Oh my god, let me see if they've said anything on the news…"

"Actually you're-" Sakura makes crinkling noises. "You're cutting out," creak, "I'll call you when I get home-!"

"Wait Sak-"

"Bye!" She hangs up and slips the phone back into the bag. She doesn't see any news vans while peering down at the crowd, so she gently swoops down to the heart of it.

"Spiderwoman!" An old man exclaims, and the rest of the people look at her with stars in their eyes. She fights the urge to cower under their admiring eyes, and instead stands proudly, jutting her shoulders back.

"Hi everyone." She says, and hopes they don't notice the subtle quiver in her tone.

A little girl appears beside her and tugs on her hip. She looks to be about 7 or 8, but the girl holds a shiny phone up to her face, and Sakura realizes immediately what she's asking for. Crouching down to the child's height, she puts her arm around the girl's shoulders. "What pose do you wanna do?"

A blush appears on the young girl's cheeks, and she doesn't say anything for a moment. "Um… can we hold up peace signs?"

Sakura laughs, and forgets that there's a crowd of people documenting her every move with cell phones as well. "Of course!" She replies while taking a couple of selfies. "Do you want a video too?"

The girl nods eagerly, and begins filming.

"Hi, I'm here with this awesome girl-" Sakura pauses.

"Moegi," the girl supplies.

"-Moegi, she's been so unbelievably lovely. Sadly, I have to get going and try to squeeze in a little patrolling. I've had a lovely time chatting with her, but I'm sure Moegi's got way cooler things to do than spend time with me!"

The crowd, who has been listening in, break out into small whines. She appeases them by taking a couple more pictures, and is about to prepare to make her departure when she feels Moegi wrap her small arms around her in a tight hug.

"I wanna be like you when I grow up." The girl mumbles into her stomach, but Sakura's enhanced hearing allows her to hear the girl perfectly.

No one has ever said something like that, especially to an ordinary person like her, so to hear such admiration coming from a child, she feels immense pride in being this girl's hero. She's so tongue tied however, that she does nothing but hug the pig tailed child tightly and ruffle her hair.

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"I'm home!" She shouts as soon as she unlocks the door of her apartment, and is barely surprised when she finds it empty.

She presumes her parents are at their family owned bakery across the street, and has her suspicions confirmed when she finds a note taped to the fridge, probably dropped off around the same time she would normally be getting out of school.

Sakura,

We'll probably be coming in late tonight. There's a few things we still haven't planned for the gala. There's leftovers in the fridge.

Sighing, she crumbles the note and throws it into the trash. They'll both be gone for awhile, and staying at the shop past closing time has become more and more common in the past few weeks. She knows why of course so she doesn't blame them for anything, but she just feels guilty about not being able to help as often as she would like to.

The Konoha Police Department's Annual Gala is coming up, and her parents were thrilled to find that they were commissioned to bake and deliver the deserts for the city's most important officials. To say her parents' small business is swamped was an understatement. She had rarely seen her parents in the last month or two, but didn't have much time to bother with it herself. Besides, she has run ins with the cops on the daily, a night dedicated to them wasn't the cause of much excitement on her part.

She decides to skip straight to her own desert, anmitsu, after she realizes she isn't really hungry.

Turning on the television in the kitchen, she notices there's a news report on the robbery. There isn't really much mention of her, other than just a brief comment on the spiderweb the perpetrators were found in, but that's fine with her. The media was still warming up to her presence, and for now she could control when or how they caught footage of her, besides the photos she willingly took with civilians. Her name was getting out there, she just didn't know how to feel about it. She watches the news for a little over an hour while icing her injuries before shutting it off and decides to head to bed.

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"He's so hot."

"Ino." Sakura replies warningly.

"I wonder if he likes women in leather too?"

"Please shut up. He's going to hear you."

"So?" Ino shrugs.

"Do you, like, not feel embarrassment like a normal human being?" Sakura groans, and tries to look everywhere but at him. They're waiting outside of Kakashi's class, he hasn't unlocked the door yet, and Sasuke's made a rare early appearance to class. Casually leaning against the lockers diagonal from the room, with his eyes closed, Sasuke looks like the very embodiment of 'cool,' as least that's what she thinks from the small looks she gives him every couple of seconds from the corner of her vision.

"Oh honey," Ino says, "I'm anything but normal."

Sakura scowls. "You're right I'm sorry. How could I have forgotten you're a pig!"

The blonde gasps and brings a hand up to her chest, face turning bright red, and is about to retort when the other teen bursts into laughter.

She doesn't mean to, but Ino had looked so stupefied, that the laughter had sprung on her, and before she knew it, her classmates who had been engaged in quiet conversations with one another all had turned to look at her. Gently, she calms down, and blushes slightly when she notices the amount of attention on her. Peering over her shoulder, she double checks her bag to make sure none of her suit is peaking out from the zippers, and is only confused when she sees that it's sealed tight.

Lifting her head, she takes a short peak at the Uchiha to see if he was among the ones staring. To her confusion, he's looking off to the side, but she's able to see that the tips of his ears are tinted pink. Sharply, she turns to Ino, who like many of her classmates, is still openly staring.

"Why are they looking at me like that?" Sakura begins to question, a bit self consciously, but is cut off by the opening of the door.

"Ah, sorry to keep you all waiting, come in, come in." Kakashi says behind the doorway.

Awkwardly shuffling into class, she isn't given the opportunity to repeat her question because Kakashi begins to start the lesson almost immediately once everyone is inside.

She's taking notes, about a quarter way into the period when she senses his eyes on her. She begins to more around in her seat and even touch her pink hair -maybe some of it is sticking up?- when her fidgeting causes her pencil to roll off the side of her desk.

She stiffens when she peers down onto the floor and realizes it's landed right in the middle of the thin strip between their desks. God, why can't she have any tact when she's out of the suit? Now it's been too long, and he's probably wondering why she hasn't picked it up yet—

The teen has to stifle a gasp when she sees a large, gloved hand sweep the ground for her pencil and then set it onto her desk. "T-Thanks." She says looking at her desk, and inwardly berates herself for her stuttering.

Sasuke says nothing, and returns to his study of her. By now, she's sure her face is colored crimson and that he can see it quite clearly, but whether or not he's aware of her internal struggle, he doesn't look away.

She's starting to become slightly annoyed because she can't concentrate, and because she doesn't know how to interact with his actions, she turns to face him for the first time. "Please stop staring at me." Her words come out rather shy.

"You have a funny laugh." He tells her after a beat, and turns to look at Kakashi at the front of the room with his head propped up by his hands.

"W-What?" She whispers back, but receives no answer. What did he mean by that? Was that why everyone was staring at her? No one ever told her she had an ugly laugh before, how embarrassing… By Sasuke, no less.

Now it's her turn to lay her head down in her arms, school work long forgotten. Her first time having a genuine conversation with him and he thinks she has a weird laugh. How could life be so cruel? Was she not a good person, was this revenge for squashing that spider in her room three days ago? For not helping her parents enough?

She could feel his presence right there, and the worst thing was he probably didn't even think what he said was a big deal. He said it so normally, like it wasn't the first time they ever talked. She'll never be able to laugh again-

"Sakura!"

Her head shot up, and realized Kakashi had been trying to get her attention for minutes now. This was not her day.

"Do you need to be sent to the nurse's office? I don't appreciate sleeping in my class."

She grimaces. "Sorry sir, my stomach was cramping for a second, but it's okay now." She lies, and rubs her stomach.

"Oh," he looks apologetic, "well my offer to go to the nurse's office still stands. Otherwise, please pay attention."

"Of course, thank you." She replies. Her interruptions with this class were becoming more and more common, when all she wanted was to blend in. Picking up her pencil once more, she begis to take more notes, all while unaware of the staring once again taking place, albeit much more subtly.

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A/N: So basically, Sasuke has the tact of a beanpole, and Sakura's oblivious to the power of her ~laugh~

Thanks for reading!

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